This invention relates to a dental articular, and more particularly to an apparatus for mounting a dental cast onto a dental articulator.
A dental articulator is an apparatus which simulates the movement of a human jaw, and generally includes an upper frame member and a lower frame member. The upper and lower frame members are adapted to have dental casts of a patient's upper and lower teeth, respectively, mounted thereto. The dental casts are formed from impressions of the patient's teeth, to provide an accurate reproduction thereof. With casts of a patient's teeth mounted in this manner on the articulator, a dentist has available an accurate model of a patient's actual dental structure and movement thereof. This allows the dentist to work on the casts of the patient's teeth when performing dental repairs such as bridge work, crowns, splints and dentures, as opposed to working on the actual teeth of the patient.
When mounting the dental casts to the articulator, it is important that the casts be mounted in such a manner as to closely replicate the actual dental structure of the patient. That is, the casts must be accurately located so that the upper and lower casts of the teeth interact in a manner which duplicates the actual interaction of the patient's teeth as closely as possible. This calls for accurate positioning of the casts relative to one another.
It is known to mount the dental casts to the articulator frame members by means of a mounting plate which is removably connectable to the frame members. The mounting plate is generally a flat disc-like member having a threaded hole to receive the threaded portion of a mounting screw which extends through the frame member. The dental cast is secured to the mounting plate using a plaster-like substance, such as plaster of Paris. This form of mounting is generally shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,873 to Kulas.
Plaster mounting of a dental cast to an articulator frame member is a time consuming and messy process. The dental cast must be manually held in position while the wet plaster is placed between the dental cast and the mounting plate. The cast must then be manually held in place while the plaster sets, which can take up to 20 minutes. This step must be performed for mounting both the upper and lower dental casts to the upper and lower frame members of the articulator. Once the plaster has set, the assembly can be removed from the articulator by removing the mounting screw from the threaded opening in the mounting plate. The casts can then be put aside while other work is performed on the articulator, such as mounting another set of casts to the articulator frame members or working on a previously mounted set of dental casts which have been reconnected to the articulator frame members.
The present invention has been developed to overcome problems with the above-referenced procedure for mounting a dental cast to an articulator. The invention allows the dental cast to be mounted to an articulator frame member without the use of a plaster-like material. Additionally, the invention allows the cast to be removed from the frame member of the articulator and put aside, and thereafter be reconnected to the frame member for resumption of work on the dental cast.
In accordance with the invention, a face plate for a dental articulator having opposed spaced frame members includes a body portion adapted to receive a dental cast. The body portion is connectable to one of the frame members of the dental articulator, such as by means of the aforementioned mounting screw, for connecting the dental cast thereto. The body portion has a mounting means associated therewith for physically mounting the dental cast to the body portion. The invention further includes multidirectional positioning means associated with the face plate for providing selective multidirectional positioning of the dental cast relative to the frame member after the cast has been mounted to the articulator frame member. This allows accurate positioning of a dental cast relative to another dental cast mounted to the other of the frame members.
In one embodiment, the invention provides a removable face plate assembly for mounting a dental cast to a frame member of an articulator. The removable assembly can be removed from the frame member and reconnected thereto, while maintaining the position of the dental cast relative to the frame member during such reconnection. The face plate assembly includes a body portion adapted to receive a dental cast. The body portion is connectable to one of the frame members of the articulator for mounting the dental cast thereto. A mounting means is associated with the body portion for mounting the dental cast to the body portion. Positioning means is associated with the face plate assembly for providing selective positioning of the dental cast relative to the frame member after the cast has been mounted to the articulator frame member. This arrangement allows accurate positioning of the dental cast relative to another dental cast mounted to the other frame member of the articulator. The assembly further includes connection means for removably connecting the face plate assembly to the frame member.
The invention thus provides an apparatus which allows multidirectional positioning of a dental cast after it has been mounted to the articulator frame member. After mounting, the position of the cast may be adjusted in an up-down direction relative to the upper and lower frame members, and also in a plane parallel to a transverse plane extending through the frame member.